Old and disabled at risk of losing care if government fails to fund wage rises

Older people, the disabled and working age adults reliant on care could lose vital support if the government does not fund the National Living Wage rises it has announced, warns Care England.

The wage rises could cause care worker job losses and care home closures, hitting the people needing care hardest, if the government does not invest in a social care system that has seen ‘chronic underfunding’, Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England has said.

This April, the government will introduce National Living Wage (NLW) rises of 6.2 per cent to £8.82 per hour.

The National Minimum Wage for younger workers, 21-24 year olds, will increase by 6.5 per cent from £7.70 to £8.20 per hour. For workers aged 18 and below, there will be a 4.6 per cent rise to £4.55 per hour and apprentices will see their wages rise from £3.90 to £4.15 per hour.

'Jobs will be lost'

“Good and fair wages remain a lynchpin in the future sustainability of the adult social care sector", said Martin Green of Care England, which represents independent care homes.

"So too does the delivery of quality care to some of society’s most in need, but is in incumbent upon Government to ensure that such increases in the NLW are reflected in the fees paid to care providers who are supporting some of society’s most vulnerable people.

“If Government fails to support this uplift then services may close, jobs will be lost and support to people in need will be reduced at a time when more people need social care."

The charity Age UK has stated 1.4. million people are already not getting the care they need. Skills for Care reported care workers' median hourly wage was £8.10 in March 2019.

Mr Green added: "The social care system has endured chronic underfunding for many years and we call upon the Government to fund not only the increases in the living wage, but the sector’s long term sustainability”.

England needs 580,000 extra social care workers by 2035 if it is to keep up with the ageing population, according to Skills for Care. In addition to the extra workers needed, there are currently 122,000 vacancies in England's adult social care sector.

Chancellor Sajid Javid, who announced his Budget will take place on 11 March, has said he will seek to expand the reach of the NLW to cover workers aged 23 and over from April 2021 and to those aged 21 and over within five years.

Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum (NCF), wrote in a blog on the NCF website: 'We need the new Conservative government to Be the Government of Social Care and to approach social care with the clarity of vision and the determination to take action that the sector demands'.

She called on the government to 'commit to an adequate 3-5 year funding settlement now (£1bn a year is simply not enough) to protect the provision of care, as part of the start of a longer-term funding solution.'

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